Means and method for making mats for pictures and the like



9 W6 R. P. JENSEN ETAL 3,&9,343

MEANS AND METHOD FOR MAKING MATS FOR PICTURES AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 28, 1964 l 5 F lllllllllllllllll- /0 1% Fig 5 1 F13. u 5" [7 g l rm rs smtorfig if @1913 PM $356181 Dald. W

United States Patent 3,289,343 MEANS AND METHOD FOR MAKING MATS FOR PICTURES AND THE LIKE Robert P. Jensen, 918 Van Buren, and Donald W. Sackett, 323 Selby Sh, both of Owatonna, Minn. Filed Get. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 407,166 4 Claims. (Cl. 40-154) Our present invention relates broadly to picture framing materials and more particularly to a method of making mats for use in the mounting or framing of works of art such as paintings, drawings, photographs and the like.

The principal object of this invention is to permit the use of strips of cardboard or mat-board cut to proper length and width thus eliminating the necessity of hand cutting a mat from a sheet of cardboard or mat-board.

A further object of this invention is to provide pre-cut means for forming a mat for the mounting of pictures, drawings, photographs, and the like works of art.

A further object of this invention is to provide pre-cut and pre-dimensioned means for forming a mat for use in the framing or mounting of pictures, drawings, photographs, and like works of art wherein the result is attractive and three dimensioned in effect.

A still further object of this invention is to provide means for producing mats for use in the framing and mounting of pictures, drawings, photographs, and like works of art wherein the mat making materials are produced in kit form and in a plurality of sizes thus making it possible to produce a mat that may be either square or rectangular by assembling pairs of matching strips of pre-cut mat-board or any suitable material.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following specification and claims when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which forms an essential part of this application and in which drawing, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

To the above end, generally stated, the invention consists of the following devices and combination of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

Referring to the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the several elements of the invention in exploded relation prior to assembly thereof.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the assembled invention showing the rear portion thereof.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the front of the assembled invention.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of one of the elements of the invention, a part thereof being broken away and sectioned.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the element shown in FIG. 4, and,

FIG. 6 is an end elevational view of the same.

Referring now more in detail to the drawing the numeral 7 will hereinafter be applied to the finished mat as an entirety comprising four pre-cut and pre-dimensioned strips of mat board or the like 8 each of which is cut at its respective end portions at a 45 degree angle, see numeral 9. It is important to note at this point that these mat-board strips 8 may comprise four of identical length to form a finished square mat and/or two of identical length and two of shorter length to form a finished rectangular mat. Obviously these mat-board strips may be furnished in a plurality of sizes thereby providing a finished mat in a plurality of different sizes according to the size of the work of art, not shown, to be framed or mounted.

The respective section of a finished mat are held in assembled relation by means of four clips 10, one for 3,289,343 Patented Dec. 6, 1966 ice each angular corner of the mat. These clips 10 are dimensioned to extend from the respective outer corners 11 of the mat proper, to the inner corner 12 of the opening of each said mat 7, thereby covering the matched joint formed by the assembly of the four mat-board strips. The end portion of these clips 10 are cut to a 45 degree angle, see numeral 13 and said clips are obviously of such length soas to coincide with the exact length of the mating edges of the joint 14 thereby covering said joint in its entirety.

The clips 10 are of unitary construction having a thin longitudinally disposed central divider 15 for holding identical horizontally disposed, upper and lower sections thereof in spaced relation to thus provide a pair of opposed longitudinally disposed grooves 17 into which the angular edgeportions 9 of the mat-board strips are fitted. It will be understood that the sections 16 of the clips 10 are necessarily spaced apart according to the thickness of the mat-board material, however, this is now generally standardized with respect to the art of framing and mounting of works of art and the like.

The cross sectional shapeof said clips may be characterized as substantially 'H-shape.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that to form a mat of a given size, the mat-board strips 8 of the proper size are selected and with these elements positioned on a flat supporting surface, not shown, the angular edge portions 9 of each thereof are properly positioned in abutting engagement and at this'point the clips 10 of the proper length are then applied to each angular joint 9. To assist in holding the elements thus far noted, in assembled relation, a strip of adhesive tape 18 may be placed transversely across a clip and into holding engagement with the respective mat-board strips and it will be understood that with these adhesive strips 18 applied, that side of the assembled mat will become the back thereof.

The clips 10 may be made of plastic metal, paper board, or any other suitable material, are opaque, and may be furnished in various colors to match the color of the mat-board 8.

It will be understood that the advantages of this method of producing mats 7 for art work, photographs, and the like are that the mat-board strips 8 may be provided in several standard lengths and widths, the combination of these lengths making it possible to assemble with square or rectangular mats in a plurality of diiferent sizes without having to indulge in the time consuming process of hand cutting these materials.

While there are herein disclosed but a limited number of embodiments of the structure, process and product of the invention herein presented, it is possible to produce still other embodiments without departing from the inventive concept herein disclosed, and it is desired, therefore, that only such limitations be imposed on the appended claims as are stated herein or required by the prior art.

What we claim is:

1. The means for making mats for art work, pictures, drawings, and the like comprising in combination four pre-cut sections of mat-board all four of which being of identical length to form a finished square mat when assembled or alternatively two of said pre-cut mat-board sections being of one length and the other two thereof being of a contrasting length to form a finished rectangular mat, the end portions of each of said mat-board sections being cut at a 45 degree angle and having close mating relation the one with the other, :an elongated clip having an upper section and a lower section applicable to the respective joints formed by the assembling of the said mat-board sections, the said upper and lower sections of said clips being held spaced apart transversely by a central longitudinally disposed divider the said clips being dimensioned to extend the full length of the joint formed by the abutting engagement of the end portion of the mat-board sections and holding said sections in assembled relation by frictional gripping engagement each of said sections between the upper and lower sections of said clips said assembled mats being adapted to surround the marginal portion of a rectangular picture or other display.

2. The structure of claim 1 further including a length of adhesive tape dimensioned to span each clip substantially at the longitudinal center of each thereof, the end portion of said tape thence being pressed into adhesive engagement with the respective sections of the mat-board strips held assembled by the clips.

3. A decorative and reinforcing mat for surrounding the marginal edges of sheet art work having in combination,

four separate mat sections constructed of thin strip material,

each section having parallel longitudinal edges and diagonal ends oppositely angled at 45 relative to the outer longitudinal edge, said sections being arranged in rectangular frame form with diagonal mating end edges of adjacent sections extending in close parallel relationship,

four longitudinal clips of substantially H-shape cross section interconnecting the mating end margins of said four sections,

each of said clips having a pair of oppositely opening longitudinal shallow channels of a width for receiving and confining the said mating edges of said mat sections,

and four short strips, each being disposed transversely of one of said clip elements and adhesively secured to surfaces of two adjoining mat sections to thereby retain said mating edges in their respective receiving channels and in aggregate to interlock and retain said four mat sections and clips in assembled relation.

4. The process of making decorative and reinforcing mats for framing the marginal edges of art work and the like in sheet form which comprises,

preparing a multiplicity of mat sections in a variety of lengths from readily shearable strip material by cutting said strip material along predetermined, spaced diagonal lines extending at angles of 45 relative to one of the longitudinal edges of said material,

the cutting being carried out in alternate cuts oppositely to leave each mat section formed with end edges extending oppositely at 45 angles to a longitudinal edge,

preparing a multiplicity of clip members substantially H-shaped in cross section, each of a maximum length about equal to the diagonal edges of said mat sections, said clips being processed to provide for each clip two oppositely opening, longitudinal channels of widths to closely confine the mating edges of the mat sections,

selecting from said multiplicity of said prepared mat sections two pairs of sections, the sections of one pair being of substantially equal length to the top and bottom of the art sheet to be framed and the second pair being of substantially equal length to the side edges of the art sheet to be framed,

arranging said four selected mat sections rectangularly in frame-like manner with the diagonal edges of adjacent sections mating,

interconnecting said mating edges with the respective channels of a clip member,

and finally applying short adhesive strips transversely across each of said clips and adhered to adjacent portions of mating sections to interlock and retain all of said parts in assembled relation.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 124,759 3/1872 Quinn 2092 3,189,136 6/1965 Steckney 20-92 X 3,192,671 7/1965 Smith 52282 X 3,216,538 11/1965 Miller 52282 X EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner.

W, J. CONTRERAS, Assistant Examiner, 

1. THE MEANS FOR MAKING MATS FOR ART WORK, PICTURES, DRAWINGS, AND THE LIKE COMPRISING IN COMBINATION FOUR PRE-CUT SECTIONS OF MAT-BOARD ALL FOUR OF WHICH BEING OF IDENTICAL LENGTH TO FORM A FINISHED SQUARE MAT WHEN ASSEMBLED OR ALTERNATIVELY TWO OF SAID PRE-CUT MAT-BOARD SECTIONS BEING OF ONE LENGTH AND THE OTHER TWO THEREOF BEING OF A CONTRASTING LENGTH OT FORM A FINISHED RECTANGULAR MAT, THE END PORTIONS OF EACH OF SAID MAT-BOARD SECTIONS BEING CUT AT A 45 DEGREE ANGLE AND HAVING CLOSE MATING RELATION THE ONE WITH THE OTHER, AN ELONGATED CLIP HAVING AN UPPER SECTION AND A LOWER SECTION APPLICAABLE TO THE RESPECTIVELY JOINTS FORMED BY THE ASSEMBLING OF THE SAID MAT-BOARD SECTIONS, THE SAID UPPER AND LOWER SECTIONS OF SAID CLIPS BEING HELD SPACED APART TRANSVERSELY BY A CENTRAL LONGITUDINALLY DISPOSED DIVIDER THE SAID CLIPS BEING DIMENSIONED TO EXTEND THE FULL LENGTH OF THE JOINT FORMED BY THE ABUTTING ENGAGEMENT OF THE END PORTION OF THE MAT-BOARD SECTIONS AND HOLDING SAID SECTIONS IN ASSEMBLED RELATION BY FRICTIONAL GRIPPING ENGAGEMENT EACH OF SAID SECTIONS BETWEEN THE UPPER AND LOWER SECTIONS OF SAID CLIPS SAID ASSEMBLED MATS BEING ADAPTED TO SURROUND THE MARGINAL PORTION OF A RECTANGULAR PICTURE OR OTHER DISPLAY. 